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TES: The largest network of teachers in the world
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Broad Question
If more mentos are added to coke the higher the geyser goes higher in the air?Specific Question
Does the number of mentos effect how high the geyser will go?Hypothesis
It is hypothesized that the more mentos there are, the higher the geyser will go.Rationale
There are more chemicals in the mentos that makes the soda fizz. If there are 3 mentos, there is a smaller amount of chemicals than in 9 mentos.
Graph of Hypothesis
Variables
Independent Variable: Different number of mentos added. "3" "6" "9"
Dependent Variable: How high the geyser went in the air (cm).
Variables That Need To Be Controlled:
same sodasame geyser tube
same yard sticks
same place every time
same time during school
same duct tape
same flip-cam
same people doing the experiment
same ladder
same size bottle of soda
Vocabulary List That Needs Explanation
A geyser tube is what you put on the bottle and put the mentos in so they done go in the bottle right away.General Plan
What is the experiment question?
Does the number of mentos added to coke affect the volume of sode left in bottle?
What is the independent variable? (this is the what you will VARY on purpose)
The number of mentos
What are the different independent variable treatments? (the different values of the IV)
The number of mentos added will be 3,6 then 9
How many trials will be run for each treatment? (conduct as many as you can within reason)
It will be tried 5 times for each trial.
Briefly explain what will be measured and how the data will be collected?.
How high it goes in the air by meters.
What is the dependent variable and in what units will it be measured?
Volume of soda left in the bottle. Record the volume in the bottle. Explode and measure by how high it goes in the air with meter sticks.
Based on your plan are there any safety concerns or materials needed that might be a problem?
Potential Problems And Solutions
You can get soda in your eye.You can get sick from the cold air.
You could choke on Mentos.
Safety Or Environmental Concerns
Soda could get in the grassPlastic could blow away.
Design Paragraph
This experiment was to test if more mentos added to coke if the geyser goes higher. To set up we had to put yardsticks on a brick wall. Get a ladder to put the yardsticks on the wall. We needed 24 bottles of coke to do the experiment. We needed mentos to put in the coke. We needed a flip camera. We needed a clipboard and a pencil to write down the data. We had to put the geyser on the soda cap put mentos in it pull the pin and the soda will go in the air and then you have to write down the data. We were testing to see if more mentos added to coke if the geyser would go higher in the air when more mentos are added.
(add the correct headings from the experimental design page before beginning)
Resources and Budget Table
Detailed Procedure
1. Get materials,
25- 20 z. bottles of coke
408 mentos
a measuring tape
a geyser tube
duct tape
a plastic bag
a ladder
a camera
a tripod
2. Extend the measuring tape to the highest point possible by using a ladder to get to a higher elevation, then tape the spool of the measuring tape to the highest point, then take the 0 cm. point on the ground and tape it to the wall.
3. Set up camera on a tripod. Put tripod far enough away from the test sight to be able to capture the event as it happens. Photos will be taken of setup and video will be taken of the geyser.
4. Cut open large plastic bag to place under soda bottle.
5. Put 20 oz bottle of soda on plastic 3 feet away from the wall.
6. Take the lid off the soda bottle.
7. Put geyser tube on top of the bottle.
8. Put 3 Mentos in bottle of soda and quickly step away.
9. One experimenter should start video when Mentos are placed in soda.
10. Second experimenter records the greatest height of the geyser. Discard remaining soda and bottle.
11. Repeat steps 8-10 five times.
12. Repeat steps 5-7 then put 6 Mentos in the bottle
13. Put in 9 mentos and and do that experiment 5 times.
14. Make a graph about the results
Data Table
Number of Mentos Mean height of geyser (cm)3 mentos 170.14
6 mentos 153.9
9 mentos 174.16
Data Analysis
All Raw Data
Graphs
Photos
Results
When three mentos were put in 20 ml of coke it had a mean geyser height of 170.14cm. When six mentos were put in 20 ml of coke it had a mean geyser height of 153.9cm. When nine mentos were put in 20 ml of coke it had a mean geyser of 174.16cm. The greatest number of mentos put in to the coke measured the greater geyser height.Conclusion
The experiment was designed to test if the number of mentos added to coke affect how high the geyser goes in the air. The larger amount of mentos, the higher the geyser will go. The average height of 3 mentos was 170.14 cm, the average height for 6 mentos was 153.9 cm, and the average height for 9 mentos was 174.16 cm.Discussion
The experiment question was does the number of mentos added to coke affect how high the geyser goes in the air. The experiment question asked was answered. The answer was the more mentos added to the soda, the higher the geyser goes in the air. It is hypothesized that the more mentos there are, the higher the geyser will go. The hypothesis was supported by the results.
The mean height of three mentos was 170.1 cm,The mean height of six mentos was 153.9 cm,The mean height of nine mentos was 147.2 cm. One of the trials of three barely even went in the air. And then another one of the three went really high. Also when the soda was colder the geyser would go a little in the air. If they were just room temperature the geyser would go much higher. The height of the geyser for three mentos trials was 147.3 cm, 78.7 cm, 292 cm, 205.7 cm, 127 cm. The height of the geyser for six mentos trials was 160 cm, 838 cm, 147.3 cm, 210.8 cm, 167.6 cm. The height of the geyser for nine mentos trials was 165 cm, 170 cm, 185.4 cm, 200.6 cm, 149.8 cm.Most of the numbers were higher than 100 cm except for 78.7 cm which is in the results for three mentos. In the results for six mentos, trial three was 83.8 cm. And in nine mentos, they were all over 100cm. The majority of the mentos in the nine mentos trial were greater than the rest of the data. The relation between the independent variable and the dependant variable is strong because the geyser will go a little bit higher every time more mentos are added.
The relationship is not very strong because they are not the same at all. No there is not a strong cause or effect because the more mentos added the geyser does go higher, but it did not go up very fast it went up very gradually.It was a little hard to find out the pattern because some of the soda was in a snow bank and other ones weren't. The ones that were in the snow bank did not go as high in the air. the ones that were not in the snow bank went a lot higher so it was kind of hard to tell what ones went higher. It was estimated that the more mentos added went higher though. The results happened because the small pores on the mentos let the coke in to react with the certain chemical, causing the mentos to fizz and create a geyser. The chemicals that are in mentos are sugar, wheat glucose syrup, and citric acid but the chemical that mostly reacts in coke is carbon dioxide.
There have been other experiments with this. Another experiment was with mint mentos and diet coke. With mint mentos, there are more pores in them because the strong scent and taste they give, meaning more of the coke makes the mentos react, making the geyser go higher.
One problem in this experiment was that we found it hard to find the correct height. We were estimating because all we had was 3 meter sticks, so all we could do was estimate. We were going to try to put the meter sticks closer to the geyser to see where the wet mark stopped but we would need to change meter sticks each time. We could put the camera at a higher position on a zoom enough to see the full geyser and the numbers on the meter stick to see the exact height. Flat coke doesn’t work because there is no more carbon dioxide to carbonate the soda, so there is no more carbon dioxide to go into the mentos pores and create a geyser. There was no specialized information of technology needed to conduct this experiment but in the future, we could use a better camera.
The people that could benefit from this are science teachers. One reason it could benefit science teachers is that it could be interesting for students to watch. Than the students might be more excited to go to science class.
One question is: Does the same thing happen when you put skittles into coke instead of mentos? I don’t think it will work because skittles don’t have as many pores as mentos.
Background Research
Why do mentos and soda blow up? There are little microscopic pores on the surface of mentos and when the carbonation from the soda enters these pores at such a fast rate, it causes the soda to react.What are mentos made of? Sugar, wheat glucose syrup, hydrogenated coconut oil, citric acid, rice starch, gum Arabic gellan gum, sucrose esters of fatty acids, natural and artificial flavors, colors (beta-carotene, beetroot, red), carnauba wax, & beeswax.
Why do mentos fizz? Mentos fizz because of the nucleation sites on the surface of the Mentos. These are basically microscopic holes and when it comes into contact with the coke all of the dissolved carbon dioxide condenses and form bubbles that wear away layers of the mentos where more nucleation sites are accessible by the carbon dioxide. This is why the reaction is not repeatable with the same coke or a flat coke.
References
White, Coy . "What Is Mentos Made of."The Q&A wiki. Answers, n.d. Web. 26 Mar. 2013. <http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_Is_Mentos_Made_of>.
Worker, Spode . "What Is Mentos Made of." The Q&A wiki. Answers, n.d. Web. 26 Mar. 2013. <http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_Is_Mentos_made_of>.
Abstract
This science experiment was to test if more Mentos added to Coke affect the height of the geyser. It was hypothesized that the more Mentos added to Coke the higher the geyser would go. There was 24 bottles of Coke and a geyser tube would be put onto the bottle and then the Mentos were added and the geyser height would be measured. The data supported the hypothesis. The data collected during the experiment was the mean for 3 Mentos the height of 4.8cm, for 6 mentos the mean geyser height was 6.6cm, for 9 mentos the mean height was 12cm.